Special Movement Indicator  

When you post a goods movement in Inventory Management, the special movement indicator makes it possible for you to directly influence the interface between IM and WM.

In the reference movement type table, you assign WM movement types that correspond to IM movement types, thereby defining control parameters for WM. You can influence this assignment in several ways, one of which is by using the special movement indicator.

Using the special movement indicator, you can link several WM movement types to a single IM reference movement type. Since you can specify interim storage areas and interim storage bins within the WM movement types, you can determine which interim storage areas and bins will be selected in WM for a goods movement depending upon the special movement indicator used.

The special movement indicator can be entered into the system in two ways.

When creating a goods movement in Inventory Management, you can enter the special movement indicator manually. On the initial screen for goods movements, choose   WM parameters. The system displays a dialog box into which you can enter the special movement indicator.

The special movement indicator can only be entered on the initial IM screen for goods movements and is valid for the entire material document (for all items).

For automatic retrievals, the system uses the special movement indicator defined in the SpecMovementInd field of the material master record. This field makes it possible for you to control the processing of several groups of materials with similar characteristics via the IM-WM interface.

When materials used in production are received, they are usually stored first in the reserve storage area and then retrieved when they are needed on the production line. For a specific material or only for a particular goods receipt, it is also possible to enter a special movement indicator during the goods receipt posting (or retrieve it from the material master record). For these exceptions, the transfer order uses a different movement type (based on the customizing set up) than is normally used to assign storage bins in the warehouse. This means that you can enter a special movement type to move a particular quantity of material directly to a production storage bin.

If you manually enter the special movement indicator when posting a goods movement in Inventory Management, the system ignores the indicator in the material master record.

Moving Stock Directly to a Fixed Bin using a Special Movement Indicator

Each time a goods receipt is posted for material ABC, you want to move the material directly to storage bin FIX-ABC in storage type 005 of warehouse number 001 without creating a transfer requirement or transfer order. To do this, you need to set up the system as follows:
    1. Create the fixed bin FIX-ABC in storage type 005 that is defined in the standard system using the fixed bin search strategy. (See Stock Placement Strategy F: Fixed Bin Storage)
    2. Create a special movement indicator for your warehouse number.
    3. Add the special movement indicator and the fixed bin FIX-ABC to the material master for material ABC. (Be sure to enter storage type 005 in the organizational level dialog box when changing the material master record.)
    4. Create a new WM movement type to move materials directly into fixed bins without creating transfer orders or transfer requirements.
    5. In the reference movement type table, create a new entry that links an appropriate IM movement type to the new movement type using the special movement indicator.

When you post the goods receipt for material ABC in IM, the system does not create a transfer requirement or a transfer order and the posted quantity for the material is increased immediately for the fixed bin.

You can also use this same process for goods issues.